


Cluestuck

by azneraCarenza, Mbug98



Category: Clue | Cluedo (Board Game), Homestuck
Genre: And murder scenes in general, Clue/Cluedo references invevitable, Collab work, Comedy, Humanstuck, Mentions of Blood, Mentions of Violence, Private Detectives, be warned, co-written by the lovely mbug98, indirect mentions of violence and murder i guess?, mostly just Terezi trolling Eridan at this point, not us., of a sort, who knows where this is going?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-28
Updated: 2014-10-01
Packaged: 2017-12-27 20:51:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 9,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/983460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azneraCarenza/pseuds/azneraCarenza, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mbug98/pseuds/Mbug98
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two employees from Pyralspite's Private Detective Agency form an uncomfortable alliance to unveil the mysteries of The Clock House. </p><p>Or</p><p>In which Terezi Pyrope and Eridan Ampora try to work out what's going on in that madhouse.</p><p> A homestuck/clue collaboration work.</p><p>Collab partner can be found here: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/4662940/Mbug98</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so this is my first attempt at a collab. The two of us will share chapters, writing one of the POVs each. Hope you enjoy :)
> 
> This prologue is just a short one really. 
> 
> Also to anyone watching my other fanfiction in progress, I am sorry but I have awful writers block on that and will get on it when I can.

“Please Eridan? It's a great oppur-tuna-ty for you!”

Your name is Eridan Ampora, and you are really starting to hate your co-worker.

Ok, so you couldn't hate Fef, even if she has to go away for weeks and leave you to deal with your workload alone, and it is alone because no way are you working with anyone else. When you joined Pyralspite's Private Detective agency, you had been assigned Feferi Piexes as your partner. You fell in love instantly. And one day, you might even tell her that.

But for now, you have to deal with this situation.

As little as you may want to, you are expected to work in the absence of your partner, and so you are reviewing the possible cases. You have almost decided on one, a simple enough missing family member, blah blah, when those idiots from the office next door to yours show up. You can't deal with Strider and Egbert through a wall, let alone face to face. So naturally when they are talking about the case they want, a murder or something, you immediately know you can do a better job. You walk past, smile sweetly, and casually steal the folder.  
The mission is successful. You have a case, and managed to deal with your less than satisfactory office neighbours in one go. You are pretty happy about the situation, but then naturally it goes wrong. Your boss appears, just in time to remind you how much the universe hates you. 

“Ampora. You want the case, you need a partner. I'm assigning you to Pyrope. Good luck.”

He smirks at you, and you genuinely wonder if he's trying to get you killed, for it is well known that Terezi Pyrope works alone. 

This case will either be your greatest triumph, or get you fired.

You don't hold out much hope.

 

***

 

So, you could say today was a pretty normal day. You were relaxed in your chair, feet up on your desk. 

Your name was Terezi Pyrope, and you normally had more respect for your workplace but at the moment you were pretty tired and the desk was there and hey, this was pretty comfy. 

Everything was going well until that familiar smell of lemons reached your nose. You straighten up with a sigh as your boss, Lemonsnout, walks in the door. You honestly would have left Pyralspite's Private Detective agency just because of Lemonsnout if you didn’t like this job so much. There were two reasons people called him Lemonsnout: one, he always smelled like lemons and two, he had this huge nose.

When he began talking you mainly just zone out, staring at the wall behind him. “Oh and by the way I’m partnering you up with Ampora.” Now, this you hear, and this makes you fall out of your seat.

You shoot up, mad. You always work alone, always. He quickly leaves, shutting the door behind him before you throw something after him, your sudden burst of anger getting the better of you. Well wasn’t this perfect? You get your first partner and it gets to be Eridan. 

You sit in your seat again, finding a hat to pull down over your face as you go back to your previous position. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad? Nah, you were sure it was going to be pretty bad.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the two detectives talk about murder while trying not to murder each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a while, circumstances led to me and my collab partner being out of contact for a while, but update :) Hope you enjoy :)

So, even though as much as you’d like to not be doing this and be strangling Lemonsnout right about now, you’re driving Eridan and yourself over to where the case is. He’s taken the seat next to you before you could even say otherwise, trying to talk to you. You honestly are just ignoring him mainly because of what he’s calling you.  
“Look, Rezi, if we’re going to be working on this together we might as well talk, at least a little.” Ignoring. “Rezi, are you even listening to me?” Still ignoring. “Ter. Answer me.” You start to hum just knowing it’d piss him off. “Terezi god da-“ “There we go! What do you need Ampora?”  
Oh good you can practically feel his glare. You glance over at him and grin. “This is going to be living hell.” He rests his head against the dashboard. You cackle, causing him to shoot up. Apparently he wasn’t expecting that.  
“WWHAT THE HELL WWAS THAT?!”  
You burst out laughing, which sounded a bit nicer than your cackle but it was still there, at hearing him stutter.  
“Where did those extra w’s come from?!” He glares at you. “SHUT UP AND WHAT WAS THAT?” You grin. “My laugh.”  
He leans back, crossing his arms. “You sound like a fuckin witch.”  
“Tell me about the case Ampora, we can focus on my witch-like laugh later.”  
He grumbles and searches for the case file.  
“You sound just like Lemonsnout callin me by my last name like that.” You nearly pass out. “YOU WILL NOT ASSOCIATE ME WITH THE BIG NOSED LEMON GUY LIKE THAT, ERIDAN.” He glances over at you then pulls out the file.  
“Alright Rezi. Whatever you say. Anyways, It seems that Doctor Scratch ha-“ “Just Doc Scratch.” He looks at you, confused. “What?” “He’s just Doc Scratch, not Doctor Scratch.”  
He just nods, looking back at the file. “Doc Scratch has been killed in his house while having a bunch of guests over. We’ve been assigned to investigate.” “Are the guests still there.” He looks over the papers inside. “According to this, yes.” You sigh. Now, something about this case didn't feel right.  
You only find out when you pull up to the place and get out. Then you proceed to lean against the car, banging your head against the roof of it. 

Out of all places, it had to be here. 

The Clock House.  


***

List of things you didn't need today:  
Anything to do with Terezi Pyrope and/or this case.

And that pretty much sums up the journey here. Bad enough she discovered your stutter, but if she will cackle down your ear, what was she expecting? Actually probably just that. You already hate working with her.  
The case itself is weird enough though. You don't usually handle murders, leaning more towards finding lost things from people to jewels, and you are regretting more and more your impulsive need to piss off Egbert and Strider. Totally not worth it. Not only the case is weird though. There's something very weird about this house.  
“Hey rez... Terezi, what did ya say this place was called again?”  
She doesn't answer, instead pointing at the case file and muttering something about murdering you. You wouldn't usually bother with these comments, but something catches your attention about it.  
“I'm going to murder you... A case at the clock house of all places...”  
You barely caught that, but it seems she has some kind of history with the place? Never mind, you suspect you don't want to know. You wish this was a normal case, you driving down this frankly ridiculously long driveway with Fef laughing beside you instead of the increasingly angry nightmare muttering murder at you. The house itself is creepy without someone who cackles like a witch as your partner. Ugh, she's your partner. The horror in those words. You are cursing Lemonsnout to an eternal punishment for this. But you digress. The house looks like something from a gothic horror novel, which is increasingly appropriate. You haven't even entered the place and it terrifies you, and isn't that fabulous for the man with a nervous stutter. You are perfectly happy sulking in your seat, when Rez shoves her elbow out at you, hitting your face.  
“What the hell Ter, are you tryin to ruin my face? I know it must be hard to be seen alongside someone so frankly gorgeous, but that doesn't mean you have to break my nose to make yourself feel better!”  
She just cackles again, which just unnerves you more.  
“Stop being such a drama queen Eridan, and get out of the car so we can solve this case and bring Justice!”  
She raises her fist at the mention of justice, and you could swear her face belongs on a small child given free reign in a sweet shop. You hate children almost as much as Pyrope, but that comparison still seems cruel on the kids. As it is, you get out of the car and approach the door, attempting to follow Pyrope, who seems to have given up on her bad feelings about the house in her crazed pursuit of justice. She Knocks loudly on the door, and you stand reluctantly behind her, not sure you want to know what's behind the needlessly large door.

It slowly creaks open, and all you can hear is the ticking of what must be a ridiculous number of... 

“Of fuckin course the Clock House would be filled with fuckin clocks.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everyone is confused and slightly creeped out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to anyone reading this, updating gets interesting when your Collab partner is on another continent :P  
> We'll do our best to upload again soon, and hope you enjoy :)

You stood outside the Clock House, noticing Eridan's discomfort at the huge amount of ticking clocks inside. You cant blame him, it was damn creepy. Especially how loud and in sync they were. You contemplate shoving him inside but forget it, turning and walking back to the car. After all he probably already hates you enough, no need to further that.   
He turns around after a moment, noticing your absence. "Rezi! What are you doing?" You open the trunk of your car, reaching in. "Getting my stuff!" "What stuff?! What could you possibly fuckin need?" He starts over as you pull out your bag, slipping on the bright red, pointed glasses and grabbing your cane. "This stuff."  
You flash him a grin and poke his chest with the cane. "Inside, Eridan. I may hate this place and you for grabbing a case with it but you're my partner and this our case. Now in the creepy Clock House." You flick your cane off to the house and he glares at you, stomping off.   
You follow along, shutting the trunk and slipping the bag onto your shoulder. Okay, honesty time. You are not happy at all. The Clock House of all places?! Who ever reigns over the Earth really fucking hates you. You can feel it.   
You shake your head and continue on, mainly in the name of JUST1C3. Good, cold hard justice. That's what you stood for. And be it the Clock House or anywhere else you will stand for Justice.   
Its been your dream since you were little, after all.

***

As reluctant as you are to enter the house, you aren't going to be shown up by Terezi going in first, so you walk straight in, looking around for whoever opened the door for you. There is no one in sight.  
“Rezi? Who opened the door? And where did they go?”  
You're supposed to be here to answer questions, not ask them, but there is something really creepy about this place. Terezi walks in after you, and hits your leg with her cane while telling you not to be such a baby. So much for solving a murder case, you are seriously considering committing one right now. You are about to yell at her for that, but the door slams shut behind you. You look at each other, and then at the door, and then around the room at the complete lack of people.  
“Terezi... W-who did that?”  
She's actually too busy trying to open the door to comment on your stutter, for which you are grateful, but she looks the opposite of gracious right now. She hits the door with her cane and makes some kind of unintelligible noise of anger, which you take as a bad sign. She then turns on you, which is an even worse one.  
“Eridan. This place is bad enough without us being locked in. Remind me why I'm in this situation? Oh wait. I remember. It's your fault.”  
She's turning her favourite shade of red by now, but you are ignoring her rising anger in the face of your own.  
“Well maybe if you'd bothered to get a partner before now, we wouldn't be stuck here together! But no, the great Terezi Pyrope works alone, well fuckin great. Technically, this is your fault.”  
You manage to overlook the fact that you took the case requiring you have a partner anyway. And if you hadn't chosen it you wouldn't be in this horrible, and fucking creepy seriously who needs all of these clocks, mansion, locked in with no sign of anyone around who could have done it.   
As if your day wasn't going badly enough.  
The two of you argue back and forth for a while, since you have no idea what else to do, but you are interrupted by someone walking into the room and making an unsubtle coughing noise as if trying to get your attention. You both turned round in sync to look in that direction, which might have looked funny if you weren't both so annoyed at the time, and saw a woman had entered the entrance hall. She had black hair that looked like it would be long if it weren't pinned up with what looked like a pair of those needle things, which matched her red dress. She must have had a thing about red, since she had so much red eye make-up on that even her eyes themselves looked red. She looked like she fit right in with the creepy mansion. Neither you or Terezi could think of anything to say, but she just walked right up to the two of you and stopped uncomfortably close to you before starting to talk. Not that you understood a word she said... Is that Japanese or something? You looked at Terezi and raised an eyebrow, and she shrugged at you. The strange woman seemed annoyed about that, rolling her eyes and gesturing for you to follow her. You suppose you have no other option, so you follow her deeper into the mansion and leave the entrance hall behind.  
Unfortunately, the clocks just keep going.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Terezi is angry, Eridan is confused, and everyone else seems to be both. Well, most of them anyway.

You follow along the lady in red, who you assume is one of your suspects. After all there was a party and she looked like she just came from one. But what in the world was she speaking?   
You had no clue. 

You sigh and look around the place, studying clock after clock. Each one was different, unique, but they were all on the same time, ticking at the same rate. And it was goddamn loud.   
To be honest, what Eridan had said- yelled really- to you about how this was your fault because you refused to get a partner really hurt and shook you up. Not like you showed it though, you wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

It wasn't the reason he thought, however. You did have a high confidence in yourself but in no way were you great. 

You made mistakes and everything, you were average. You just didn't want someone who you trusted to find out about your past. Not after how hard you tried to cover it up. 

You shake that though from your head and glance at Eridan before watching your guide stop at a door, opening it and walking in. You follow of course, then almost immediately tense up at who you see in there. About two or three people you did not want to deal with: Makara and the Serkets. 

Aranea was okay, you didn't mind her. But she was Vriska's sister. Then there was Gamzee. All of them you were not on good terms with. 

So you're locked in the one place you hate, trapped with two people who definitely hate you, and your partner you honestly believe couldn't give a flying fuck about what happened to you. 

 

What else can go to shit?

***

Seriously. What is wrong with your partner.

You walked into a room full of, presumably, your suspects, and she freezes up like one of Fef's stupid blowfish before it puffs up, spikes and all. You suspect Terezi is about to do the same. You nudge her, and give her a look as if to say 'calm the fuck down', before turning back to the occupants of the room.

The girl in red who led you here, and two other girls, one in white, one in blue, both with black hair and blue eyes, although the difference in expression was quite impressive. The one in white looked serenely calm, the one in blue on the verge of flipping a table or something. There were also three guys, in green, yellow and purple. The guy in purple just looked stoned, while green looked almost comically angry, and yellow just looked pissed. Well, this should be fun. Terezi still seemed to be useless, thanks for nothing there, so you stepped forwards for happy introduction times. Fucking wonderful.

“Evenin everyone. The name's Eridan Ampora, an this is Terezi Pyrope. I'd be surprised if you didn't know why we're here, an we'd like to know who we're speakin to if that ain't too much to ask.”

You flash them a charming smile, but none of them change expression. Ok, tough crowd. You tried at least, which is more than you can say for your 'partner'. You were about to give up completely when the girl In white spoke up.

“My name Is Aranea White, and the rest of this fine company are Vriska Peacock, Damara Scarlet, Gamzee Plum, Calliborn Green, and Sollux Mustard. Those aren't out real surnames of course, but those are simply-”

She was cut off by the girl in blue, Vriska, who rolled her eyes at her.

“Oh my gooooooood, you need to shut up. We got assigned colours for the party, bluh bluh etc etc.”

You want to ask their surnames, but the look she gives you shuts you up. Ok then, no more questions for now. You turn to Terezi, but you are surprised to find that the blowfish has found her spikes. She is glaring at Vriska like she wants to kill her, revive her, and kill her again. Multiple times. You assume it's just because she's so rude. Or something like that. Ugh, these people are all beneath you, what did you do to deserve this? You are still sulking when you notice Terezi step past you.

“And would you like to tell me, Vriska, why we are locked in?”

Yup, she definetely wants Vriska's blood. This is a wonderful start to a murder investigation.

And they say you're the high maintenance one.

Anyway, Terezi's comment about you being locked in actually seems to surpise them. The green guy, Caliborn, goes off into some kind of shouting fit, while Gamzee just watches him. That guy is creepy as fuck, and you can't figure out why but you feel vaguely threatened... never mind. The yellow guy, Sollux you think, although the names are getting hard to keep track of, speaks up next.

“What the fuck, we knew we couldn't leave but now we're thtuck here?”

Well, good to know you aren't the only one in the building with an embarrassing speech impediment. You might have laughed, if not for the situation. Aranea breaks you out of your happy mood though, as was inevitable in this fucking place It seemed, by commenting that since Damara worked for Doc Scratch, shouldn't she have a key? You all turn to look at Damara, but she just shrugs and goes off into a babble of that language again. Although, the fact that she reacted at all implies that she does understand english? And then there's the can of worms Aranea just opened, and flung on the floor, and stamped on and crushed into the pristine carpet, of Damara working for the victim. This is all just one big mess, and somehow they needed to take those damn worms and make bait of them to get to the big fish.

Although with your partner freaking out for no reason, and your one lead so far not even speaking the same language, you could be fishing for a really long time.

 

And your time is audibly ticking away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this is probably the start of the actual plot :) Thanks for reading, and hopefully we will continue to update semi-regularly :)


	5. Chapter 5

You wish you could be anywhere but here. Even being back when you were younger would be a shit ton better than this. 

You hold your head in one hand, your other holding your elbow. You have your eyes shut behind your red glasses as you try to think with everyone blabbering on and getting into arguments as to why you're all locked in. 

Of course the first person anyone suspects to be behind this is Ms. Scarlet herself, Damara having worked for Doc Scratch. You open your eyes, catching a glimpse of Vriska's face. Your attention is drawn there, drawn to her knowing smirk. 

Of course she'd do this to you, hold your past up above you to make sure her own skin is saved. Just your luck, Gamzee gets up and walks over next to you, standing uncomfortably close. You press closer to Eridan, who was currently one of the only people here you trusted. 

Though you were still pretty damn sure he hated you. 

He gives you a look like he's confused, disgusted or both. You glance at him before walking over to Damara, grabbing her arm and beginning to pull her out. 

"Ampora find someone to interrogate, we'll find out more this way."

You pull the other woman along, who had begun to ramble at you in what you've decided is Japanese, deciding that she'd be one that would be easier to handle. 

You hope. 

***

Terezi is really starting to worry you. More than usual, that is. 

Ok you can admit that Gamzee is creepy enough without being in your personal space, but really, snuggling up to you is better? Thee is something seriously weird going on with her and these people. For now though, she's dragging off Damara and giving orders again, so you suppose she can't be too traumatised.  
You are left in a room full of people watching you. This is unnerving as fuck, but hey. You can handle this. Probably. You and Fef were known for a good cop/bad cop style of interrogation, but without your good cop you are slightly lost. Eh, how hard can it be.

It's when you're sitting in a room with Sollux, who seemed the most normal of the ones left, that you realise you're out of your depth.

“So... are you going to ask me questions or what?”

You had no idea what to ask. Interrogation game weak Eridan.

“yeah. I am.”

When you think of any.

“Why were you here when the murder occurred?”

He looks at you like you're a complete idiot, which is always a good start. Apparently they already told you they were at a party here.   
The interrogation continues in much the same way, with you asking questions and him answering them in an infuriatingly vague manner. Apparently he knows nothing about this place. All you manage to establish is that Damara found the body in the library, a candlestick lying on the floor nearby. It was wiped clean though, so the murderer wasn't a total idiot. Unlike the investigators. Wait, what was that last? He just smirks and asks if he can go, so you let him leave. Not like you were getting anywhere anyway.

You decided that the best course of action would be to check out the scene of the crime, but this place is huge, and the corridors filled with clocks seem never ending. It isn't long before you realise you are hopelessly lost within the mansion. 

“Ah... Rezi? Anyone?”

Your shouting brings no help, so you sigh and continue walking, muttering to yourself as you go.

“Fuckin mansion... fuckin useless suspects, fuckin clocks who needs this many anyway.”

You continue along those lines until you realise something.

The ever-present ticking is getting quieter.

You walk faster, determined to find the reason for the quietness, and you are really hoping that somewhere ahead there lies a room without any clocks, where you can stay until someone finds you without getting a migraine. The ticking sounds are almost non existent now, and you are probably too excited about the freedom from that infernal ticking noise, but there's a door right there and you can't hear any sound from behind it... It's open a crack, so you go ahead and walk right in.

There may be no ticking, but the second you walk in another sound hits you.   
The sound of broken glass underfoot.

Because this room, like all the others you have seen, is filled with clocks. But all of their faces are smashed, piles of broken glass lying everywhere, the floor littered with it, and lying in the middle of the room... An ornate, silver candlestick. For some reason you can't quite think of, you pick it up carefully and wrap it in your scarf. It seems important, although in your current state of slightly freaked out, you don't recall why, although you think it should be obvious. You are about to leave the room when you notice in the corner of the room, there are some round bottles stacked up, covered in dust. You walk over to look at them, and you are really hoping there's a good explanation for this, because you are not believing what your eyes are seeing, and you never thought you'd miss Terezi by your side, but this is too creepy. Even for the fucking murder clock house.

The bottles are filled with a red, viscous, liquid.

Please let it be tomato sauce.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everything goes wrong. Again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for blood, murder and general crime scene mentions here.

You sigh, having Damara sit in a chair in the study. If course the interrogation goes nowhere as she refuses to speak in anything but Japanese. 

You wonder if she's just plain avoiding your questions. 

Finally you pull out a note pad and a pen, handing it to Damara. "Ok so you won't speak English, can you at least write your answers?" She gives you a glare before taking the pad and pen, nodding. 

Finally, you've got something. 

You go about asking your questions, as in where was she prior to finding the body, who she was with, if she saw anyone with the victim before hand, what work she did for the victim.   
You finish quickly and recieve a note pad with neatly written and legible answers. You thank her and head her back to the other room, where everyone but Eridan stands. 

You groan and walk off to find him. It's not too hard as you soon find that the ticking had begun to quiet and follow the sound, figuring he would have followed it.   
You walk into the room, finding that a clock hating tornado has come through here. Along with Eridan staring at something, his back to you and obscuring your view of what's claimed his interest, while holding something wrapped in his scarf. 

Carefully stepping around the glass, you sneak up behind him and smack him not too hard between the shoulder blades with your cane.   
That gets his attention. He jumps up, yelping before glaring at you.   
"What the hell are you doin smackin me like that?!" 

You roll your eyes.

"Ampora what are you doing out here? Leaving the suspects alone like that?"   
"I followed the sound of silence!"   
You almost laugh.   
"I thought there was plenty of that in your head!"   
"Shut the fuck up, Rezi!"

You raise your cane to smack him again when a high pitched scream echoes through the mansion. 

That could not have been good. 

***

As if this room wasn't freaky enough already, the screaming sound effects really made it something special. 

Terezi immediately ran out of the room after the noise, good riddance after that pointless scare she gave you, and you paused only to grab one of the creepy as fuck bottles from the corner of the room and put it into your scarf with the candlestick before you run after her. Turns out that you are a faster runner as well, overtaking Terezi and pausing to stick out your tongue at her before continuing. A little childish, but hey. She deserved it. 

Turns out you hadn't had enough scares for today.

The screaming had stopped long ago, but the guests had heard it too.   
You found them all in the ballroom, gathered around the middle of the floor. You pushed your way through easily, everyone else seeming at first to be frozen in a state of shock. You couldn't blame them. 

There, on the ground, was Damara 'Scarlet', head surrounded by a halo of liquid the colour of her given name. 

You turned away, feeling slightly nauseous. This is why you don't usually take murder cases. You were broken out of your thoughts by someone, you think Aranea, commenting that it looks like the same kind of wound as the one inflicted on Doc Scratch.   
Suddenly, you remembered why the candlestick you picked up earlier seemed familiar. It matched the description of the one Sollux had described to you earlier. That of the murder weapon. You unwrapped your scarf, holding out the candlestick. Someone behind you gasped.  
“It's the fucking murder weapon he did it!”  
You turned round to see Sollux gaping at you, while the others looked weirdly amused. What is wrong with these people.   
“Oh please, do you even see any blood on it?”  
It's a clean candlestick, not exactly murder weapon worthy. And yet, Caliborn speaks up for once.

“It's FUCKING COVERED in blood!”

He is louder than you were expecting, but then you realise what he's saying. You turned back to look at the candlestick in your hands... And it was in fact covered in it. What the... Oh. The fucking bottle you picked up must have broken on your way.

“Fuck my scarf is ruined!”

This sparks a debate between the guests as to how it's the scarf you care about, when you are blatantly a murderer. You are fully expecting to be tied to a chair or something, when you notice Terezi's presence.  
“Although I'd love to see him face justice, he was with me.”

That quietens down the crowd, and Terezi steps forward, grabbing your scarf out of your hand and using it to clean up some of the blood on the floor. You may or may not tear up at the sight of your beautiful scarf being ruined further. But now is not the time. You got up and directed everyone but Terezi out of the room, noting proudly that they look vaguely ashamed. Ok so Caliborn looks permanently angry, Aranea calm, Gamzee just weird, and Vriska vaguely disgusted. At least Sollux looks ashamed, if only vaguely. You may be clutching at straws here.

You shut the door behind them, turning to face Terezi. She looked back at you, for once not with loathing on her face, but confusion matching your own.   
As if this day hadn't been stressful enough already.  
You find yourself wondering how long you were going to have to stay here now.

Damara had, after all, been the only hope you had of getting out of this place.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Terezi is faced by personal demons, And Eridan continues to wonder what is up with her.

You sigh heavily, looking back down at Damara. You gently shut her eyes, standing up. Looking at the scarf in your hands, you shake your head before handing it to Eridan. 

"I'm sorry about your scarf..." 

You watch his expression change from worry and confusion, to surprise, to the same hateful one he's had the whole time. He snatches it, grumbling. 

"Yeah what fuckin ever." 

He looks it over, looking like he's actually about to cry. You shake your head and looked away. 

"Alright. Look I've got answers from her, in english, written in here." 

You produce your notebook. 

"How about you go over them and I look around?"

He glares before snatching the notebook, wordlessly going through. You turn and walk off, looking around. You look over everything, turning to open a different door. Once you do a piece of rope falls, looped. It's a noose. In an instant you're there, back all those years ago. You're small, powerless, staring at her, the rope, the other ones grin. 

You stumble back, staring at the swinging rope. You just wanted to escape it all. To get rid of it. But you knew that the others would take control of you and your memories again. Twist them, turn them against you. 

After all, its why you worked solo.

***

Terezi handed you your ruined scarf and a notebook. Unfortunately she moved before you could throw them back in her face. 

Fef gave you that scarf last Christmas, and you wish more than anything that it was her here with you now instead of Pyrope, the the so called One Woman Wonder, who has done nothing in this case except look like she's about to run away screaming and get a notebook full of useless information. A doodle you find of a dragon on an earlier page probably holds more clues than this written interveiw. The only thing you find of interest is that Damara was more in training with Doc Scratch, and that he was going to send her to work for a Lord English. You have never heard of him, but you figure it isn't important. Until you notice a couple of lines down, in the same neat handwriting but rather smaller.

“He is already here”

Huh. It's below the mention of Lord English, so you guess it refers to him... But that makes literally no sense. You have a certain sense for the upper class, mostly based on clothing and posture, etc, and you haven't identified anyone you think could be a lord. Which means either this note is a riddle or something, or rather more ominously that there's someone here you haven't seen.

Your mind goes back to the room full of smashed clocks, wondering if someone could have been hiding there.

You shake your head slightly as if to physically get the thoughts out of your head. This is ridiculous, Eridan, and you need to pull yourself together.  
You got up, intending to show the note to Pyrope, but if course she'd wandered off. You walked around the ballroom, noting that it was actually quite a large room and she could be just about anywhere, when you saw her. She was in front of a door out of the room, although you had no idea where it went. It looked like she was staring through the opening, and there seemed to be something hanging from the ceiling. Maybe a chandelier had loosened and fallen from the ceiling or something. But surely you would have heard that? 

Well whatever it was seemed to have spooked Terezi, so you decided to check it out. You managed to ignore the childish urge to sneak up on her, since as you approached you realised her face was almost white, like the blood had drained from her face completely.  
And you have to say you've had enough of blood draining today, from bottles or... otherwise.

“Rezi? What is it? Light fittin loose or somethin?”

The fact that she ignores the use of the shortened name almost worries you, although honestly you're more annoyed since you suspect she's just being petty again.

At least until you see what she's staring at.

Honestly at this point you're almost not even surprised to see a noose in the doorway given the other macabre spectacles to be found in this mansion, but it's obviously got to your partner. You grab her arm and move her away from the door, closing it behind you. 

“Terezi. Say somethin. Or did you fuckin die of fright. Another death, just what we need right now, like we didn't have enough-”

You're cut off by a cane slapping against your ribs.

“Shut up, you idiot.”

“That fuckin hurt!”

Well even if her face is still paler than usual, and you are wondering why an admittedly creepy, but otherwise non-threatening piece of rope freaked her out that much, things are as normal as they can get for now.

You only hope it lasts.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Everyone develops a sense of paranoia.

You pull away from Eridan, turning and starting for the door. You want to just leave, to go sit somewhere alone. Mainly because you were going to start crying, all you can think about is that one night that every single thing changed. 

Your phone's going off in your pocket, and you figure its your sister. You'll get it later. Eridan grabs your arm again.   
"Rezi, where are you going? Don't keep running off on me." 

You try to pull your arm from him but he's got a stronger grip on you now.  
"Let me go.."   
You mumble, lowering your head.   
"I can't hear you. God, speak up. I don't need to be takin care of you an our suspects. I thought you were the great Terezi Pyrope, the One Woman Wonder? All you've got is a notepad of useless shit and an unrelated noose." 

You keep trying to pull your arm from him, seriously holding it back now.   
"An here you go runnin off again! I'm doin everythin while you hide. What kind of detective are you?" 

That hits you hard. 

You break, starting to cry. This isn't a case you can work with but its not one you can leave either. You glare back at Eridan, harshly pulling your arm away. 

"Leave me be! I can't take this anymore. I'm sorry you got paired with me! I'm sorry your scarf is ruined! I'm sorry we're in this mess! I'm sorry that your other precious little partner isn't here! But you know what? You've got me and you're stuck with me! Just... Leave me alone for a bit." 

You turn and walk off quickly, losing yourself in the mansion. You sit in a room, the door shut and locked as you couldn't trust anyone there. You take some time to calm yourself at least a bit, pulling out your phone. 

Your sisters been texting you about where you are. You give her the details you know are okay to give, such as you're on a case and you have to stay somewhere overnight. 

She tells you to take your medication and check in tomorrow morning. You put your phone away, pulling out the long, skinny blue container and do as told, popping the pills in your mouth and swallowing them dry. 

You were certain they didn't work, but you did what you could to calm the older Pyrope. 

***

You knew the normality couldn't last.  
You had expected a lot when you were paired with Pyrope, but running off crying was not something you'd planned for. She was meant to be ruthless in her pursuit of justice, not bursting into tears at a little shock like that. You, quite honestly, are fuming.   
You have done nothing but work since you got here, and you have made pretty much every important discovery so far, and now your 'partner' has run off, leaving you to solve the whole damn thing. And solve it alone you will, if you have to. This case is annoying as hell, and you are going to crack it.  
For now though, the day is nearly over, and you are exhausted.  
You made your way back to the main sitting room, where Aranea, Vriska, Calliborn and Sollux were gathered. Gamzee didn't seem to be around, but you didn't think too much of it.

“Looks like I'm joinin the party. Where have you all been sleepin?”

Aranea offers to show you to an empty room, and you accept, even though something seems a little off. You can't figure out what though, so why not just accept the help? God knows you've had no other cooperation round here.   
You check the main door as you go past the entrance hall, but it is still locked tight.   
Just another problem you'll have to deal with.

For now though, you can rest. Aranea has shown you to the corridor of bedrooms everyone was assigned, and pointed to the door on the end wall, slightly ajar. Ok, it's creepy, but Aranea hasn't shut up about the historical features of the mansion since you left the sitting room, and you are going to get a migraine if you have to stay near her any longer. Frankly the creepy room looks delightfully quiet, although the background noise of hundreds of clocks are still audible. You have to sympathise with whoever broke the ones you found earlier. Wishing you'd brought earplugs, you stepped cautiously into the room.

It was strangely normal.

No broken glass, no blood filled bottles, no unexplained noose.

You were considering trying to sleep in this seemingly average haven, when you realised that while it was normal in that it contained no murder-related objects, it was a large room, lavishly furnished and containing the makings of an office. You walked towards the desk, and found...  
Of course. It couldn't have been just anyone's room could it.  
You found Doc Scratch's personal memoirs.  
And tonight you will be sleeping in the room of a dead man.

As if that wasn't unnerving enough, you by instinct had walked back to the door to try and leave, and found it jammed slightly. This is probably why it was left ajar, it must have stuck in the frame or something... Just your luck.

But this does give you a great chance to look around the victim's own possessions.

You search the room for the best part of an hour, and find nothing interesting. You guess he wasn't stupid enough to leave his personal documents out for anyone to find, which is what leads you to try the last untouched place in the room. His desk.

Sure enough, there is a locked draw. 

People have often looked at you funny for keeping your hair this styled, but you have to say it has it's uses. Like being filled with hair pins.  
And you learnt to pick locks years ago.

A minute or so later, and the draw is open, it's innermost secrets revealed...

The draw is empty.

There's no way this can be happening, there's got to be something in here, so you check every corner. Thankfully you find something, although it's just a scrap of paper torn off a sheet. You are about to throw it away in frustration when you realise there's writing on it, although the ink is so pale a grey it barely shows up on the paper.  
It reads almost like a poem?

“Red is the colour of someone unfaithful,  
Green is the colour of Sibling betrayal,  
Purple the colour of crimes beyond measure,  
Yellow the colour of thieving for pleasure”

It looks like there ought to be more, but the tear prevents you from finding out what. The damn thing doesn't make sense anyway. No one writes anything important in poetic forms, it's probably just some old highschool project.

Suddenly your frustration got the better of you, and you crumpled the paper and shoved it into your pocket. You couldn't take these useless clues anymore. You'll just have to sleep on it, and hope tomorrow brings something more substantial. 

You fall asleep to the sound of ticking clocks, and another, unsteady sound, almost like someone breathing outside your door.

It's probably the wind. You hope.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which something actually gets solved for once.

You wake up the next morning, surprised to find the following three things. 1. How peacefully you slept. 2. You're still on the floor and 3. the sun is shining right in your eyes. 

You groan and slowly get up, grabbing your cane before checking your phone. After discovering that its fairly late in the morning and deciding that you need to apologize to Eridan for your behaviour yesterday, you unlock the door and head out.

As you make your way downstairs you're suddenly grabbed from behind and pulled close to someone. You gulp, feeling their hot breath against your neck. Chills run down your spine and you tense up when they speak. "You ain't telling him anything, are ya? Because if you do, I may just lose my temper." She shake your head quickly. 

You can practically feel the grin. "Good girl." The hands leave your arms and as soon as you hear their footsteps disappear, you bolt down the stairs and locate your partner as fast as you can. 

You find him and he doesn't even so much as glance at you, though you know he knows you've entered. That door was hard as fuck to open. He's standing at the desk, looking at this scrap of paper. You open your mouth to start to apologize to him when he cuts you off. "Forget about it. Get your ass over here, Rezi."

You slowly walk over, not even bothering with the nickname. That was the least of your worries. "What have you fou-" Once again you're cut off, this time by him shoving the paper into your hands. He huffs and folds his arms. "I don't fuckin' know. Some riddle or poem or bullshit an its pissin' me off."

You take the scrap and look it over. After a minute you realize that yes there is in fact words written and yes it's confusing as hell. 

Then it clicks. You pull out your notepad again and begin to copy down the words, skipping every other line. Eridan, as usual, looks at you like you're insane but once your done the paper in your notepad looks like this.

Red is the colour of someone unfaithful- Scarlet means red; Damara Scarlet

Green is the colour of sibling betrayal- Caliborn Green

Purple the colour of crimes beyond measure- Gamzee Plum, plum is purple

Yellow the colour of thieving for pleasure- Sollux Mustard

You hand it to him and watch the realization spread across his face. "They're the guests, our suspects. We have a reason behind Doc Scratch's murder. Whoever did it knew he had black mail on them."

This just got interesting. 

***

You may not have acknowledged Terezi when she entered, but it would have been hard to miss her. She was breathing way too rapidly for someone who has had a relaxing walk from wherever she ended up sleeping.   
But for now, you are too annoyed to mention it. That poem you found kept you awake most of the night, and even though you couldn't make anything of it, you knew it was somehow connected.   
What annoys you even more however, is Terezi almost instantly working it out.  
Frankly though, by this point, you just want to solve the case and get out of this mansion, if you even can. You can hear ticking even if you put your hands over your ears by this point. 

“Ok so blackmail. It's a good theory, but if he was blackmailin all of his guests, where are White an Blue?”

You could see Terezi all but flinch when you mentioned the names, but apparently she is a professional after all, pointing to the tear at the bottom of the paper. Oh. You should probably have got that. You frowned at it, annoyed by the obvious removal, since if it had been Aranea and Vriska, would they have left such an obvious clue? Maybe they were actually just friends of the party host. But then that would probably be too simple.

For now, you have to work out what the guests were being blackmailed for. You aren't sure if it'll help in the case at all, but even if it doesn't you'll have some great material for making the story of this case more dramatic, and you do enjoy drama. You do sometimes feel like walking around wearing a cape or something, but for now, your second best scarf will have to do, since your favourite is ruined.   
You caught Terezi eyeing the scarf with some annoyance, but you don't care right now. There is investigating to do. 

“Someone bein unfaithful is like havin an affair right?” 

Terezi nods, but then Damara's blackmail is not the priority right now, although the idea seems strangely sad for something involving blackmail 

“The others don't give much away. Siblin betrayal, thievin, 'crimes beyond measure'?”

Terezi shuddered slightly at the mention of Gamzee's “crime”, although she pulled herself together quickly enough. 

“Sounds like a few people need to face justice around here. Or more than we originally thought.”

Terezi must be alright if she is going on about justice again, but something still seems off. 

You're probably just paranoid. The mansion seems to do that to people.

Speaking of paranoia though, you really ought to check out the room full of blood and broken clocks again. You are still not entirely sure you didn't hallucinate that. At this point you wouldn't even be surprised. For now, Investigating what you actually came here to solve: The murder. The creepy-ass room can wait.

“So I guess we're back to interveiwin. I'll try Sollux an see what I can get on this thevin thing, since we've talked before.”

“You mean you want to take the easy interview and leave me to do the real work?” 

“You work out one note an now you're in charge, how is that- W-WHY”

You need to find a way to get that cane away from her. 

“You go take your nice easy interview then, and I'll do the real investigating!”

And with a frankly terrifying grin, your partner walked out of the room and towards her precious justice. Hopefully you will actually make progress today, instead of finding more mysteries.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the investigation goes 2 steps forward and at least 1 step back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while... Here have a new chapter.

You really didn't want to so this. But no matter how much your gut twists itself into knots you know you have to. 

With Eridan running off to interview Sollux that leave Caliborn, Vriska, Aranea and Gamzee... You'll take Caliborn. You take the liberty of turning a tape recorder and slipping it into your pocket. You let him know of this of course. Before you even get to the separate room you used to last interrogate Damara he's already yelling and cursing at you. Oh good, this will be fun. 

Sitting him down in the same chair the currently deceased Ms. Scarlet previously sat in was a fight, he shoots daggers at you. You sit across from him, beginning to question him the same as you had done before. He just gets louder and louder. 

"Mr. Green, what do you do for a living?"   
"What the fuck is it to you?!"   
"If you could please just answer the que-" "FUCK YOU!" 

On and on. You're losing patience. But one question stops him, shuts him up and nearly gets you to cheer and thank whatever is up there that has decided to stop shitting on you with this case. 

"Do you have any family? Siblings?"  
He stares at you, her brows somehow knitting together even more.   
"I used to have a sister, Calliope." You lean forward slightly.   
"What happened to her?" He gulps and goes on to explain how his sister, also his twin, had been murdered. It was a cold case, never been solved. 

You connect the two. 

"You killed her, didn't you?" 

"I did not you take that right the fuck back!" He stands up quickly, his chair toppling back. You grin widely, like a child who's just gotten their favorite candy. You've got him.  
"I don't know what she did to you but you killed her, I know you killed her. Sibling betrayal is easy to read, Mr. Green." He narrows his eyes but keeps his mouth shut. There's practically steam coming out of his ears. 

"Fine. You fucking caught me. I killed her. Happy?! I killed her! But not this asshole. I didn't touch him." At that he storms out if the room and honestly, you're surprised the door didn't fly off the hinges. 

You slipped the tape recorder from your pocket and stopped it. You got his confession on tape. 

***

Your interview with Sollux went suprisingly well.

Sure, there was the inevitable swearing, angry glares, etc etc, but you got it out of him in the end. He was a thief all right, a hacker capable of breaking into online banking sites. He's been taking money from people this way since he was a teenager. If you weren't technically on the side of the law, you'd be pretty impressed. As it is, you take the recording you had been taking of his confession, which he had forgotten all about despite you clearly telling him at the start of the interview, and left him in the room, somewhere between glaring in anger and covering his face in the despair of someone who has just been caught.

You were planning on going back to compare notes with Terezi, but as you approached the room she was in all you could hear was angry yelling. Maybe you should leave that for later. For now, you guess you have no choice but to check out the creepy room again.

Somehow you made your way back through the labyrinth of corridors to the door you suspected hid the land of glass and bloodstains. You really, really did not want to go back in there, but the thought of Terezi coming after you with that cane if you missed a clue was enough to get you to push the door open. 

The first thing you noticed about the room was that it was dark. The windows were covered by heavy curtains, the lights turned off. You could have sworn you felt movement before you, but you put it down to the draughts apparently inevitable in a place this size. Even so, you listened carefully as you reached for the light switch. It felt like an eternity before you found it, and slowly you turned on the lights to find...

Nothing.

Well nothing is an exaggeration, since no amount of cleaning could have removed those blood stains or repaired the clock faces. In fact, the room appears even more disturbing than before, if that were possible. The floor has been cleaned and swept to remove the broken glass, a large rug placed in the centre to hide what you suspected, the blood stains too dry to be quietly removed. Dust sheets have been placed over the broken clocks, giving a feel of being surrounded by ghosts, which given where you currently are is far more unnerving than it should be. You don't know who did this, or when, or how, but it is clear someone has been here and cleaned up after themselves. 

“Fuckin' fantastic. Got a murderous creep who likes cleanin' up after themselves. As if this whole thing wasn't creepy enough already, now I'm startin' to feel like I'm goin mad.”

You turned in a circle, looking around the room one more time. Nothing but you, some questionable stains, some creepy as fuck clock-ghost-things, and a suspicious lack of dust for a place so covered in dust sheets. Whatever was going on here was obviously at least vaguely organised, and frankly that annoyed you more than anything.

“How the fuck are two detectives meant to keep tabs on a mansion this fuckin' huge?”

“Think how much worse it would be if there was only one.”

“That's a good poin- w-wait. W-who?”

You started to turn, not even realising that one of the sheet-covered figures has moved. The movement you heard earlier must have been someone hiding. But before you could figure out who it was, the hit you over the head. The last thing you remember before you passed out was thinking that you'd never be able to tell Feferi you loved her.


End file.
